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Man guilty in JP murder

A Roslindale man was convicted this week of second-degree murder in the 2011 stabbing death of Jamaica Plain resident Kenneth Soto in the parking lot of the Canary Square 7-Eleven, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Hector “Nemo” Soto, 22 and no relation to the victim, faces a mandatory sentence of life with the possibility of parole at his sentencing next month.

Kenneth “Black” Soto was 19 when he was murdered at the 451 Centre St. store on Oct. 16, 2011. He was involved in the Hyde Square Task Force’s youth programs and played baseball in the JP Regan Youth League. Friends and associates previously told the Gazette he was a good young man who was about to apply to college.

Prosecutors said that the stabbing followed a late-night altercation between two groups of men, and that Hector Soto laughed as he fled the scene, according to the DA’s Office.

Another man also was convicted of a role in the crime this week. Christian Rivera, 24, of Mission Hill was found guilty of being an accessory to murder after the fact because he fled the crime scene with Hector Soto and brought him into his home, according to the DA’s Office. Rivera faces up to seven years in prison.